There is a deep rustling close behind us. It is the birds in
the trees, the insects in the grass, the roebucks and the stags in the
coppices, and even the little fishes splashing the quiet water with
their beating fins. Don't turn round, or you will frighten them. Ah! I
am sure we have a rare train behind us.'

They still walked on, unfatigued. Albine spoke only to charm Serge with
the music of her voice, while Serge obeyed the slightest pressure of her
hand. They knew not what they passed, but they were certain that they
were going straight towards their goal. And as they went along, the
garden became gradually graver, more discreet; the soughing of the
branches died away, the streams hushed their plashing waters, the birds,
the beasts, and the insects fell into silence. All around them reigned
solemn stillness.

Then Albine and Serge instinctively raised their heads. In front of them
they beheld a colossal mass of foliage; and, as they hesitated for a
moment, a roe, after gazing at them with its sweet soft eyes, bounded
into the thickets.

'It is there,' said Albine.

She led the way, her face again turned towards Serge, whom she drew with
her, and they disappeared amid the quivering leaves, and all grew quiet
again. They were entering into delicious peace.

In the centre there stood a tree covered with so dense a foliage that
one could not recognise its species. It was of giant girth, with a trunk
that seemed to breathe like a living breast, and far-reaching boughs
that stretched like protecting arms around it. It towered up there
beautiful, strong, virile, and fruitful. It was the king of the garden,
the father of the forest, the pride of the plants, the beloved of the
sun, whose earliest and latest beams smiled daily on its crest. From its
green vault poured all the joys of creation: fragrance of flowers, music
of birds, gleams of golden light, wakeful freshness of dawn, slumbrous
warmth of evening twilight. So strong was the sap that it burst through
the very bark, bathing the tree with the powers of fruitfulness, making
it the symbol of earth's virility. Its presence sufficed to give the
clearing an enchanting charm. The other trees built up around it an
impenetrable wall, which isolated it as in a sanctuary of silence
and twilight. There was but greenery there, not a scrap of sky, not a
glimpse of horizon; nothing but a swelling rotunda, draped with green
silkiness of leaves, adorned below with mossy velvet